Naming white supremacy shifts the locus of the problem to white people, where it belongs.

I am white. When I give talks on what it means to be white in a society deeply separate and unequal by race, I explain that white people who are born and raised in the U.S. grow up in a white supremacist culture. I include myself in this claim, as I enumerate all of the ways in which I was socialized to be complicit in racism. I am not talking about hate groups, of which I am obviously not a member. And no, I don’t hate white people. I am addressing the majority of the audience to whom I am speaking, white progressives like me. If it surprises and unsettles my audience that I use this term to refer to us and not them, even after I have explained how I am using it, then they have not been listening. That recognition should trigger some sense of urgency that continuing education is needed. Yet invariably, a white person raises the objection: I really don’t like that term! I associate it with the KKK and other white nationalist groups. Why can’t you use a different term? As a classic example of white fragility, rather than stretching into a new framework, I am asked by a white participant to use language that is more comfortable and maintains their current worldview.

Many people, especially older white people, associate the term white supremacy with extreme and explicit hate groups. However, for sociologists, white supremacy is a highly descriptive term for the culture we live in; a culture which positions white people and all that is associated with them (whiteness) as ideal.

White supremacy captures the all-encompassing centrality and assumed superiority of people defined and perceived as white, and the practices based upon that assumption. White supremacy is not simply the idea that whites are superior to people of color (although it certainly is that), but a deeper premise that supports this idea—the definition of whites as the norm or standard for human, and people of color as an inherent deviation from that norm.

Thus, when race scholars use the term white supremacy, we do not use it the same way as mainstream culture does. Nor, do we use it to indicate majority-versus-minority relations. Power is not dependent on numbers but on position. We use the term to refer to a socio-political economic system of domination based on racial categories that benefit those defined and perceived as white. This system rests on the historical and current accumulation of structural power that privileges, centralizes, and elevates white people as a group. If, for example, we look at the racial break-down of the people who control our institutions, we see that in 2016-2017:

Congress: 90% white

Governors: 96% white

Top military advisors: 100% white

President and Vice President: 100% white

Current POTUS cabinet: 91% white

People who decide which TV shows we see: 93% white

People who decide which books we read: 90% white,

People who decide which news is covered: 85% white,

People who decide which music is produced: 95% white

Teachers: 83% white

Full time College Professors: 84% white

Owners of men’s pro-football teams: 97% white

These numbers are not a matter of “good people” versus “bad people.” They are a matter of power, control, and dominance by a racial group with a particular self-image, worldview, and set of interests being in the position to disseminate that image and worldview and protect those interests across the entire society.

For a clear example of what it means to have institutional control and use it to the advantage of your group, we can look to Women’s suffrage in the U.S. Only white men could grant women suffrage because white men controlled the government (and all of the other institutions that allowed them to disseminate and enforce patriarchy across society). They still do. While women could be prejudiced against men and discriminate against individual men in isolated cases, women as a group could not deny all men their civil rights. Yet men as a group could deny all women their civil rights. Once white men finally granted women the right to vote, only white men could then deny access to that right for women (and men) of color. White people also write the history that tells us that “women” were granted the right to vote, and erases the reality that that access was not granted equally across race. The term white supremacy allows us to capture the all-encompassing and multi-dimensional nature of white control.

Naming white supremacy changes the conversation because it shifts the locus of the problem to white people, where it belongs.

While the dominant racial/ethnic group in other cultures may not be white (for example, the Chinese rule Tibetans, and the Tibetans may experience racism from the Chinese), there is nonetheless a global dimension of white supremacy. Through mass media, corporate culture, advertising, United States-owned manufacturing, military presence, historical colonialist relations, missionary work, and other means, white supremacy is also circulated globally. One of the most potent ways this is disseminated is through media representations which have a profound impact on how we see the world. Given the role of media in modern life, films shape our ideas about romance, conflict, family, friendship, sexuality, criminality, belonging, and otherness.

Those who write and direct films are our cultural narrators; the stories they tell shape our world views. Given that the majority of white people live in racial isolation from people of color (and Black people in particular) and have very few authentic cross-racial relationships, white people are deeply influenced by the racial messages in films. Of the 100 top grossing films worldwide in2016, 95 were directed by white Americans (99 of them by men). That is an incredibly homogenous group of directors. Because these men are most likely at the top of the social hierarchy (in terms of race, class and gender), they are the least likely to have a wide-variety of authentic egalitarian cross-racial relationships. Yet they are in the position to represent the racial “other.” Their representations of the “other” are thereby extremely narrow and problematic, and reinforced over and over.

Take, for example, the Jackie Robinson story. Robinson is often celebrated as “the first African American to break the color line and play in major-league baseball.” While Robinson was certainly an amazing ball player, this story line depicts Robinson as racially special; a black man who broke that color line himself. The subtext is that Robinson finally had what it took to play with whites, as if no black athlete before him was strong enough to compete at that level. Imagine if instead, the story went something like this: “Jackie Robinson, the first black man whites allowed to play major-league baseball.” This is a critical distinction because no matter how fantastic a player Robinson was, he simply could not play in the major leagues if whites—who control the institution—did not allow it. Were he to walk onto the field prior to being granted permission by white owners and policy makers, the police would have removed him.

Narratives of racial exceptionality obscure the reality of ongoing institutional white control while reinforcing the ideologies of individualism and meritocracy. They also do whites a disservice by obscuring the white allies behind the scenes who worked hard and long to open the field to African American players. These allies could serve as much needed role-models for other whites (although we also need to acknowledge that in the case of the desegregation of baseball,there was an economic incentive for these allies).

And precisely because our voices have been granted more legitimacy under white supremacy, we needed to use those voices to challenge the apartheid of the decade.

White supremacy as a powerful ideology that promotes the idea of whiteness as the ideal for humanity is especially relevant in countries that have a history of colonialism by Western nations. Charles Mills (1997) describes white supremacy as “…the unnamed political system that has made the modern world what it is today” (p.1). He notes that while white supremacy has shaped Western political thought for hundreds of years, it is rarely named. In this way, white supremacy is rendered invisible while other political systems—socialism, capitalism, fascism—are identified and studied. In fact, much of its power is drawn from its invisibility—the taken-for-granted aspects of white superiority that underwrite all other political and social contracts. White resistance to the term white supremacy prevents us from examining this system. If we can’t identify it, we can’t interrupt it.

Naming white supremacy changes the conversation because it shifts the locus of the problem to white people, where it belongs. It also points us in the direction of the life-long work that is uniquely ours; challenging our complicity with and investment in racism. Yes, this work includes all white people, even white progressives. None of us have missed being shaped by the white supremacy embedded in our culture. Current research in implicit bias demonstrates that all people have racial bias, that most of it is unconscious, and that it does manifest in our actions. Because white people control the institutions, our racial bias is embedded and infused across society and works to the advantage of all white people, regardless of intentions, awareness, or self-image. Our task is not to exempt ourselves from the impact of these conditioning forces, but rather to continually seek to identify how these forces shape us and manifest in our specific lives, and interrupt those manifestations.

The term white supremacy seems to be especially resisted by those whites who marched in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. For those of you that did march, I understand that you may have strong negative associations with the term. So let me acknowledge that your involvement was critical. I, and many others, are grateful for your activism. The racism you marched against was coming from white people (as it always does). In that, it was our problem, as it always has been. We needed to get involved. And precisely because our voices have been granted more legitimacy under white supremacy, we needed to use those voices to challenge the apartheid of the time. I sincerely thank all of the white people who put themselves on the line to protest.

Having said that, we can now move on to the next point: marching in the 60’s did not certify you as racism-free for the rest of your lives, with no re-certification necessary, ever. Nor did it free you of any need for further accountability to people of color. And might there have been some of the more subtle (to whites) forms of racism perpetrated even as you marched? I am not talking about fire-hoses on protesters or beatings at the lunch counter forms of racism. Of course you were, and are, against those explicit forms. I am talking about the white progressive forms of racism which support these more explicit forms; the white savior syndrome you likely brought with you (how could you not – you are a product of your culture), the condescension and patronizing, the marveling at how articulate the Black folks were, even as you took over their movement. I am talking about the reasons that have led folks to do things differently today; why we have Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURG). BLM leads, and SURJ is expected to take its direction from BLM.

If we take a closer look at the stories we tell about Jackie Robinson, ourselves, and our activism, we see that these stories mask white supremacy by rendering invisible: whites, white advantage, and the racist policies and practices of the institutions we control. This is what we need to make visible, understand, and interrupt.

So, no, we won’t stop using the term white supremacy.

It’s not on those of us involved in the movement today to change our language for further white comfort. In fact, that is the height of white entitlement. Rather, it is on white people to break out of our comfort zones, realize that things have changed, and initiate our continuing education and skill-building. The internet is over-flowing with excellent guides on how to do this. The inability (or refusal to do so) functions as a form of resistance to change and protection of a very limited and problematic world view. This resistance is not benign; it functions to hold the current racial order in place. There is no neutral stance. We need to move on and move forward, because we are calling it what it is: white supremacy.

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About Dr. Robin DiAngelo

Dr. Robin DiAngelo is a former Associate Professor of Multicultural Education. Her scholarship is in Whiteness Studies. She has twice been honored with the Student’s Choice Award for Educator of the Year. In addition to her academic work, Dr. DiAngelo has extensive experience as a workplace consultant in issues of race relations and racial justice. She currently serves as Director of Equity at Senior Services. She has numerous publications and just released her second book, “What Does it Mean to be White? Developing White Racial Literacy. Her previous book: Is Everyone Really Equal: An Introduction to Key Concepts in Social Justice Education (co-written with Özlem Sensoy) received the Critics’ Choice Award by the American Educational Studies Association.

Excellent article. A few comments prove the author’s point re white “fragility.” She doesn’t call anyone a “white supremacist” but accurately describes the system we live in as “white supremacy.” Yet some white readers commented that they feel “attacked.” Get a grip! The article was posted on a radical listserv, though, as a supposed justification for calling individual white progressives “white supremacists.” Folks, if you notice that someone who is committed to unlearning racism is less “woke” than you’d like and needs their consciousness raised more, the way to get through to them is not name-calling or exaggerating how bad… Read more »

You guys ever watch the cartoon “The Smurfs?” Ever notice how they used the word “smurf” for so many different things that it ultimately became meaningless? That’s kinda how I view progressive use of “white supremacy.”

That being said, After this latest missive it is apparent that Dr. DiAngelo’s world view is so smurfing smurfed that only smurfs can smurf it anymore without smurfing so hard it comes out of their nose.

I’ll admit I had a hard time reading through this whole thing, so another point I noticed in my second pass was this: “The subtext is that Robinson finally had what it took to play with whites, as if no black athlete before him was strong enough to compete at that level. Imagine if instead, the story went something like this: ‘Jackie Robinson, the first black man whites allowed to play major-league baseball.’ ” There is NO ONE…and by that, I mean literally NO ONE who thinks Jackie Robinson was the first black person “strong enough” or good enough. In… Read more »

I don’t think the author was trying to assign blame. if anything they absolved it. the notion that robinson was physically incapable of competing is benign compared to the reality that it was considered demeaning to the white players to share the field with a person belonging to a subhuman race.

Wow. Just wow. I’m white and I have no problem talking about racism. I’m not fragile and I know history. You have an agenda called “white shaming” which is intended to make people feel guilty that they are white in a society that is based on white supremacy. This is not a logical, reasonable or accurate description of our society today. Whites have some historical advantages, yes – but they are becoming more and more irrelevant by the day. And not every opportunity is available to every white person. If you want to talk about communities of color where the… Read more »

The dynamic, Craig, is one that asks: what do folks do when the thing they care about and are usually making a living at, gets better? It’s akin to the military industry looking for new and improved reasons to build arsenal in times of greater peace. The intuitive answer should be to rejoice, though the practical answer is to expand the base of concern to cover more. It has been clear for at least 20 years, in North America for example, that young women are outperforming young men in education, that crime overall has fallen, that the arc of morality… Read more »

The Dr. has coined the phrase “white fragility”, and from what I gathered from Google, it’s a means to describe white people’s defensiveness when there is a discussion of race, being blamed for everything under the sun, including and up to the fat shaming of immigrant squirrels! Its infamous side kick is none other than: Intersectionality. Everyone and their immigrant squirrel knows that individuals can have both advantages and disadvantages and in varying degrees – and that being six foot eight is not a guarantee that a Trump will not fire your ass – it would seem that Comey intersected… Read more »

“As a classic example of white fragility, rather than stretching into a new framework, I am asked by a white participant to use language that is more comfortable and maintains their current worldview.” Or maybe they’re simply asking you to not be bigoted. You don’t talk about other races this way, so there is no need for whites to accept being spoken to in this way. If “white fragillity” is now a thing, let’s hear about “black criminality” or “female irrationality” if that’s how you like to talk about people. Or are those terms “problematic”? I would recommend this website… Read more »

I live in Europe and wonder how you in America define
” a white person”.
Is it only based on how you look? Is it the skin color= lighter than a brown paperbag?
Are people from Syrian white?
And what about those from Iran,Iraq, Tunisa ,parts of India.
I am confused. Are gypsies white?
As a European I know well that I sometimes can tell if a persons have mainly European ancestors,and sometimes I can not tell.
So when is person with lots of European ancestors not defined as “white”? Is it “the one drop rule” that decides what “race” you belong to?

INteresting that you said this. What I’ve experienced in Europe is that a from Germany is German, a person from Italy is italian and that the color of their skin has nothing to do with who they are. In America, we like to hyphenate which leads to labeling people.

My wife is Mexican and when asked, she will say “American” because that’s who she is, an American. :ife could be so much easier if we didn’t identify people based on their race, color etc.

“White” is a legal term that was invented in the United states to make sure people of African (subsaharan) had no citizenship, property or other legal rights regardless of their status as slaves or free people. Immigrants of different backgrounds and ethnicity would be granted citizenship and its benefits based on how much they appeared to have subsaharan African ancestry. The term white is basically a legal tool to aid genocide, rape and theft.

As a white person, all of this is new to me but it seems reasonable enough on the face of it and I can get behind most of it. But what’s this all about? “Why can’t you use a different term? As a classic example of white fragility, rather than stretching into a new framework, I am asked by a white participant to use language that is more comfortable and maintains their current worldview.” – so the rest of us have to bend over backwards not to offend the “oppressed groups” and the professional SJW snowflakes, many of whom, let’s… Read more »

“No I won’t stop alienating people who would side with me but don’t like being compared to Nazis” Seriously Doctor, I understand what you mean when you say “white supremacy” and so do most educated or honest people but if we want people on our side it might help if WE did the educating before slapping them in the face. This approach you’re advocating is the reason so many people, people who DO NOT hold intentionally racist, sexist, or homophobic beliefs voted for Trump. He talked to them and we called them names. If that seems childish or simplistic to… Read more »

Whatever Anthony . It is racist putzs like you who cannot bear to hear the truth about race. Whether you are sort, fact, unattractive etc.. to use some of your language, you still benefit fro white privilege and to a degree, male privilege. So you can boo hoo hoo and cry like a little punk ass till the cows come home. The fact is that you are beneficiary of your race and gender whether you deny it or not.

But I do have to say this. I’m not racist. I only see individuals, struggling with their own personal issues. Anyone, anywhere, regardless of race, religion, or gender who’s actually held out any kind of friendship to me has gotten everything I could give in return. Some of them have succeeded far beyond what my own shortcomings have allowed me to achieve. I have an entire army of blacks, natives, east Indians, and women who can and have stood on stages crediting me, at least in part, for their success. I’m extremely good at helping other people succeed, and I… Read more »

So the other day, I get an article here attacking me for being male, and today I get one attacking me for being white. I’m sure tomorrow I’m going to see one attacking me for being straight. Look. I’m done with people making everything my problem. Sure I’m a white straight male in North America. But I’m also extremely short, scrawny, ugly, and apparently hyper-intelligent. It’s amazing I survived childhood. I ended up in the hospital a lot. Had the shit kicked out of me by girls too. Been abused and stomped on my whole life. The methods and repercussions… Read more »

Uh, so if I go to Japan It’s Japanese supremacy? Zimbabwe, black supremacy? Saudi Arabia, Arab supremacy? etc, etc, etc, etc??? I dare you to go these countries and tell them they’re behaving like bigots. You look kinda white, how are you repenting? Voluntary reparation payments, forfeiture of eco homesteading land back to the local indigenous tribe? Btw, what primitive aboriginal tribes were ever “multicultural”? The First Nations people weren’t multicultural, were they supremacists? Multiculturalism is a direct aspect of industrial globalized civilization and the technological advancements made to expand trade via transportation. Leftists hate borders and civic nationalism but… Read more »

Jim, The problem with your argument is this nation was Native American until whites arrived. So, white supremacy is illustrated in the way we took over their land, resources, and set up and social structure that relegated them to abject poverty and social ruin for our benefit. We brought Africans against their will and subjected to them to years of dehumanizing treatment in Slavery and later Jim Crow America. We, white people, made it multicultural. Everything from our education, banking and finance, to our political structure is designed to tip the advantage to whites. Color blind racism is a passive… Read more »

In some demographics it isn’t optimal to be white, not growing up and not in some places in the US. Understanding that Dr may not be personally familiar with those instances, in those circumstances the onus typically is on and has been on those kids, who often want to be anything but white in their neighborhoods where most outsider “white” people would never go, who need to educate themselves about multiculturalism, because they have typically only been surrounded by other non-culturally diverse people. Lots of microcosms that don’t get represented and aren’t so micro when it comes to similar experiences.… Read more »